I polished up a set of finned corvette covers for my '62 that I had. I would wipe them off now and again, and try to polish them once a year. I had them on the car for 3 years, drove the hell out of the car, and still looked great when I sold it. I would say that if you take a little time every once and awhile, they should hold up fine.
In my limited experience the polishing holds up pretty well but the aluminum will continue to oxidzye and form the grey sheen of weathered parts. I think as jdubbya said,with a bit of routine maintence you should look pretty good.
Us a top quality pH. neutral polish. Avoid anything that contains ammonia, sodium hydroxide, or ammonia biflouride. Do a little maintenance once or twice a year. Easy.
Done some alum parts looked nice kept them clean still has a nice shine after 2years but you have to stay on top of what ever you polish
May also depend on where you live...Out here at the beach I have a set of old cal custom covers that need regular poishing or they go to hell pretty fast. But I also have no hood. True
Word on the street here is that it's a lot of work to keep up. The only stories that i have are people complaining about polished motorcycle cases spotting up really bad if you get caught in weather. Sounds like it calls for a re-polish in most cases. It might also be worth mentioning that polished surfaces don't dissipate heat as well.
HMS Belfast is on the water, the Brass and bronze is polished once a year. So are the outdoor exhibits at Bressingham. Biggest problem on the beach should be dust or your using a bad polish.
Theres a stuff we use here on motorcycles called alubrite,it lasts bloody ages even in winter and the salt.Theres a website i think its www.oldbikemart.co.uk .They either have it advertised on site or could point you in the right direction email these people info@dasincinter.com and ask for alubrite polish as the stuff is bitchin.One of my mates used it on his Harley and drove it all winter this year and not a mark on it........Marq
I used Zoops Seal on all the suspension components that I polished. While the car has yet to see the road, the parts that I sealed still look like they did the day I applied the sealer over a year ago. Here's the [arts before I assembled them...
Polisher, I just looked through the assortment of polishes and waxes I have in the garage and other than one that says "no unsafe acids" they don't have anything to indicate whether they do or do not have the hazardous materials you have listed here. Most of the polishes say they have aluminum silicate, (aka, clay, dirt, what 95% of the Earth's crust is made of) but that's it. So, how are we to tell what to use and what to avoid? (Other than to only use the products you are quietly but obviously trying to get us to use exclusively?) Is there an on-line tell-all that we can refer to that tells what's in all the over the shelf polishes and waxes? I suppose all of the so-called Cleaner-Wax combo products are bad?
I used to polish all the aluminum on my old FLH and then the first time water spots hit it and you didn't wipe it right off, it would leave spots that had to be polished out again. I didn't find anything back then to protect it that left the bare metal luster.
Hack, What difference does it make how long the shine will last? The important thing is how much faster will it go. I don't need to tell you about the performance benefits of shiney underhood components do I? Man, how long have you been doing this shit? You always chrome and polish just before you close the hood. How else would it be FAST? Frank
I use Wenol. Been using it for years. Do the wheels, valve covers, intake and oil filter once a year and forget about them. the secret is to use the pink stuff after the orange and blue tubes. The pink stuff's a sealer that really works the balls. Anyone who knows me knows I ain't afraid to drive the car in the rain, either.
I had a polished blower on a daily driver up here in MI... and man was it a pain in the buttocks to keep clean. I mean 'daily' as in driven in the winter, too. If you can't get to it very well once it's in the car, and you don't plan on cleaning the engine enough, I wouldn't bother polishing it. Unless... you use that Zoopseal stuff- supposed to be excellent. Other suggestions people have told me are to have the part clear powder coated once it's been polished, but that does take the edge off the shine a bit.
Different polishes hold up and fail under different conditions. It depends on the polish. The biggest enemy of chrome or aluminum is anhydrous chemicals. Acids are rarely used in polishes as when they do attack metals, the attack is powerful, especially on anything that contains zinc. Most aluminum has a fair amount of zinc in it these days. But basically if it looks as good as the day you polished it after using Zoops, it isn't well polished. The art of using Zoops and most other clears is to almost polish the part, or you get lousy adhesion. Any clear coat is designed to do the shining. Zoops will dull a well polished finish. Even my wax polishes have a slight light loss. The wax free ones don't, but they offer no protection. Look for polishes that are pH. Neutral, that other people you know have used and had good results, and read the label. Do some research, just like you do with gears, motors and paint. Aluminum silica is the abrasive by the way. Normally fairly coarse. I also agree polishing won't make anything any faster, it does make it easier to maintain and keep ahead of faults and look good though. A polished surface will also radiate more heat that a dull one. but it will not convect heat as well as a sand cast one. At the end of the day, it's a matter of personal preference. One mans meat etc.
Gte the polish done and seal it up with amorall or a reasonable facimile there off. Then clean what you can and let it obtain a mild patina. A good hoseing at the carwash about once a month and a good dousing with the sealer will keep it nice for a good long while and who in the world wants a mill that looks like it has never been used anyway.
did my panhead cases about 12 years ago.Looks great if you like cleaning.It held up preety good considering i only wash it once a year.polished alum looks better than chrome in my oppinion,but it really is a labor of love.I can go out now with some mothers alum wheel polish and in half hour it will be like new.
also if you look around im sure somebody makes some kind of sealer to put over it,i was always to broke or lazy to look though.
For a show finish, you have to keep up with it, using some good alum. polish, but for a RAT RODS polished alum. you can bring back some fairly scummy polished alum. using an S.O.S pad. Give an S.O.S pad a shot....you will be surprised!
The shit in SOS pads eats aluminum, and the wool will scratch the shit out of it. Suppose it's alright for a starting point.
Been in the Army for 15 years now. No report on open hood engine, but I can tell you a lot about how often to polish brass!!! I would have the privates polish everything posible, and paint everything else for period 4 inspection as I used to be a Drill Sergeant at Ft. Sill. The brass kick plate and push handles on the latrinie doors, if you do not seal it (as we never did since had an endless supply of labor) it will tarnish with single finger prints almost immediatly!! Shower drains will only shine for about two days before needing attention. My valve covers are alreay startign to show a little tranish form the dryer vent exiting in my garage. Id say that a protectant is a MUST!
The military always used the lousiest products to maintain their brasses. That way they could see if they'd been freshly done. Products like brasso are now longer aloud to be used by federally funded museums and the Royal Navy, who must have used enough to float a few destroyers on have banned it from all installations and naval museums. On the other hand The National Motor Museum, National Railway Museum, and most others in Britain at least now polish once a year on both their indoor and outdoor exhibits. A good quality finishing polish will contain a protective wax. Latrines and anything around them, however are a particular nightmare for anu polish because of the acids. your dries vent will cause problems because it is evaporating solvents from detergents, which are normally alkaline oxidizers, which then condense on your cooler metals, making them oxidize faster.
You rock polisher! Be glad your not my neighbor! Id be over trying to learn all I could. It is true about military using the cheapist! And, my valve covers with the dryer vent, I was only thinking of the lint and water moisuture, never really thought about the soap particles too! That makes total sense.
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